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Poster:	dead-head_Monte	Date:	March 18, 2011 11:12:56am
Forum:	iraq_war	Subject:	Wash D.C. protest on 8-year anniversary of U.S.-led Iraq invasion

concerned citizens in Fort Collins, Colorado are fed up with the Iraq War debacle

Saturday, March 19, 2011, marks the eight-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

8 years later:

50,000 U. S. troops remain in Iraq
United States Army installations in Iraq - 20 bases

U.S. Embassy in Baghdad - engineers built the largest embassy on Earth

More than 4,400 U.S. soldiers have been killed
More than 30,000 U.S. soldiers have been wounded

Ralph Nader and Daniel Ellsberg plan to participate in a major protest on Saturday, March 19, in Washington, D.C., to mark the eight-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Ellsberg will risk arrest by participating in nonviolent civil disobedience actions by Veterans for Peace, among others, to protest the ongoing military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

What's the importance of this protest?

Daniel Ellsberg says: "The WikiLeaks revelations that Pvt. Bradley Manning is charged with having revealed, having to do with Iraq, reveal that in fact we, the U.S. military, in which Manning was a part, turns over suspects to the Iraqis with the knowledge that they will be and are being tortured, which is a clear violation of our own laws and of international law and makes us as much culpable in doing that as if we were doing the torture ourselves. Moreover, the WikiLeaks logs show the order is given, "Do not investigate further." Now, that’s an illegal order, which our president could change with — and should change and must change — with picking up one phone and changing that."

Ralph Nader says: "Veterans for Peace, which start with World War II veterans all the way to the present Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, are making a powerful statement for the rule of law, for advocating peace, for getting out of Afghanistan and Iraq. If you took a poll of the soldiers in Afghanistan, as a poll was taken in Iraq in January 2005, the majority would say, "Let’s get out of here. It’s a quagmire. All we’re doing are creating new enemies, slaughtering innocents, spending huge amounts of money that can be spent back home to create jobs, and violating our constitutional processes."

"You know, let’s be very forthright. George W. Bush and Cheney committed war crimes. They had surveillance of Americans illegally. They unconstitutionally pursued wars in Asia. They slaughtered innocents. And they were considered war criminals by many people, including Republican former judge Andrew Napolitano, author of four books on the Constitution, and Republican Bruce Fein. Now, Barack Obama is committing the same crimes — in fact, worse ones in Afghanistan. And innocents are being slaughtered. We’re creating more enemies. He’s violating international law. He is not constitutionally authorized to do what he’s doing. He’s using state secrets. He’s engaging in illegal surveillance. The CIA is running wild without any kind of circumscribed legal standards or disclosure."

"And so, why don’t we say what’s on the minds of many legal experts? That the Obama administration is committing war crimes. And if Bush should have been impeached, Obama should be impeached."